July 09, 2009
You Can Croque Home Again
It’s an odd feeling to get invited to brunch at a restaurant where you once cooked. It was one I experienced weeks ago at L’Ecole, the SoHo restaurant and public face of the French Culinary Institute (view site) where I graduated from the Classic Culinary Arts program in 2006.
Brunch includes a bread and pastry basket, appetizer and entrée, and coffee. Of eleven appetizers, we requested the four most popular and were advised to order the “Seafood Sausage” and the “Steak Tartare”. Passing up Smoked Salmon with Bagel and Cream Cheese and Fried Calamari was easy, not ordering Cauliflower or Onion Soups was more difficult. These excellent, classic soups hold nostalgic places in my heart from learning to make them here.
The tartare looked beautiful. Baguette croutons were spread out like breakfast tailfeathers and a cracked quail egg was perched atop well-textured meat. But it lacked the salt, tang and spice the necessary anchovy, capers, and onions would have remedied. Seafood Sausage with Choucroute and Lobster Potato Fondant was fought over at the table— it was light, pleasantly salty and not fishy at all.
Several brunch gods were present on the menu: French Toast, Eggs Benedict, Eggs Florentine and Steak and Eggs. Out of some misguided notion we sampled Frittata and Poached Salmon. The first needed salt. The second was pretty, something my grandmother, who I love dearly, might eat at dinner. I would never again order it with my Spicy Maria cocktail (respectably spicy, great chili garnish).
The “Croque Madame” and a cup of coffee is worth the entire cost of the $19.50 prix fixe. The chewy almost inch-thick bread with a heavy brown crust was as long as the plate and generously covered with ham, creamy, béchamel and a perfectly runny egg.
Desserts performed well. Black Tea Tiramisu had a pleasantly herby flavor that did enough to make the dessert different without making it strange. The Lemon Tart was appropriately tangy and crumbly.
Perspective shifts, but some things don’t change: I’m still learning about menus, execution, service and palate from the French Culinary Institute, just in a different way. There were a few underseasoned, uninspired dishes, stray drops of water on plates from the kitchen, coffee mugs went unrefilled, and dirty dishes sat too long. But even with these expected bumps, provided you eschew gentile choices, the prix fixe is a good deal if you plan to be nearby.
Brunch reservations are available for Saturday and Sunday from 11:30am – 2:30pm.
